UNC Studies Impact of State's Ban on Gay Marriage

Submitted by Scott Jaschik on May 10, 2012 - 3:00am

University of North Carolina officials -- both at the system and campus levels -- are studying the impact of the state's new ban on gay marriage. The measure, passed Tuesday, says that the state can only recognize a marriage between a man and a woman as a "domestic legal union," and officials are uncertain what impact that could have on the generally limited benefits currently available to university employees with same-sex partners. In other states that have passed measures banning single-sex marriage or domestic partnerships, benefits offered by public colleges and universities for domestic partners have sometimes come under scrutiny and ruled illegal.

North Carolina, however, has not been a leader in providing such benefits to start with. Domestic partners are not eligible for the university system's state-provided health care plan. Some campuses, however, offer supplemental benefits such as life and dental insurance, and have allowed employees to cover domestic partners if the employees pay 100 percent of premiums. Some campuses have also allowed employees to include domestic partners in the use of campus recreational facilities.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, students have been able to include domestic partners on health insurance plans as long as the students pay 100 percent of the costs. Likewise, students with domestic partners have been able to apply to live in on-campus family housing units.